People might recall that it was actually just prior to Waitangi Day last year that this issue appeared in the media. Transit New Zealand had refused to allow the flag most people know as the ‘tino rangatiratanga flag’ (though I note that Hone Harawira doesn't see it this way) to fly from the Auckland Harbour Bridge on Waitangi Day. This looked like it was shaping up to be a test of the relationship between the National Government and the Māori Party until the Prime Minister effectively put off making a decision by saying he didn’t mind a Māori flag flying, so long as there was some agreement amongst Māori as to which flag it should be. Māori Party co-leader and, at that time, freshly-minted Minister of Māori Affairs, Pita Sharples set the consultation process in motion, which eventually led to the decision that the tino rangatiratanga flag would be the one to fly at official sites on Waitangi Day.

Now, you can probably argue about whether the process represents a healthy Treaty relationship or actually quite the reverse. Was this the Crown engaging and listening to Māori on a significant issue of national concern? Or was it a calculated diversion to distract Te Puni Kōkiri, the Māori Party, and Māoridom at large, while the Government got on with progressing a generally not very Māori-friendly agenda?

Whatever your view about the process, it is the substantive outcome that I would like to address here. In particular, I’d like to consider the concept of tino rangatiratanga that this flag symbolizes.

As many people will be aware, ‘tino rangatiratanga’ is a key concept in the Treaty of Waitangi. The Treaty guaranteed that the Māori signatories would retain their tino rangatiratanga. The term is based on the word ‘rangatira’ (chief) and so with the suffix ‘tanga’ and the intensifier ‘tino’, is often translated as ‘chieftainship’ or ‘self-determination’. In the context of applying the principles of the Treaty, a number of Waitangi Tribunal reports have discussed the meaning of this concept. The Tribunal has noted the close connection between ‘mana’ and ‘tino rangatiratanga’ and seen tino rangatiratanga as an equivalent to international concepts of aboriginal autonomy or self-government. In the context of the Treaty, of course, the guarantee of tino rangatiratanga is qualified by the right to govern granted to the Crown (‘kawanatanga’) in Article 1 of the Treaty - just as that right to govern is qualified by the guarantee of tino rangatiratanga. But, even in that qualified sense, the Waitangi Tribunal, in its report on Te Whanau o Waipareira, found:

The principle of rangatiratanga appears to be simply that Māori are guaranteed control of their own tikanga, including their social and political institutions and processes and, to the extent practicable and reasonable, they should fix their own policy and manage their own programmes.

Now, if this official recognition of the tino rangatiratanga flag is a symbol of the Government’s willingness to begin to recognise the substantive content of the guarantee of tino rangatiratanga, that would certainly be something to be applauded. But, I have yet to see any commitment to follow through, to provide for Māori self-government and autonomy, even in the qualified sense described by the Waitangi Tribunal. If there is no substance behind the symbolism, then it must be considered an empty gesture. And then we all, Māori and Pākehā alike, really will have to ask ourselves whether that consultation over the flag was worth all the time and money after all.

Ahi-kā-roa

Ahi-kā-roa literally means "the long-burning fires". It is a Māori concept that encapsulates the idea that decision-making authority and rights associated with land are maintained through the connection to that land and the fulfillment of obligations in relation to it.

About Me

I am of Ngāti Kahungunu and Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki descent. I am a lecturer at the Faculty of Law, Victoria University of Wellington. My primary research interests relate to the Treaty of Waitangi and indigenous legal traditions. Before joining the faculty in 2006, I worked in a number of different roles at the Waitangi Tribunal, Māori Land Court, and the Office of Treaty Settlements. I have recently completed a PhD through the University of Victoria, British Columbia. My dissertation is entitled 'The Treaty of Waitangi Settlement Process in Māori Legal History'. I am the Co-Editor of the Māori Law Review